[quote=“littleiron”]I don’t want this thread to become a rant on the racism of Taiwanese (not that I’m in charge or anything). I guess I just wish more Taiwanese were AWARE there is such a high level of discrimination and racism; when talking with friends, I try to show them the extent of the problem, but am very careful about saying sweeping generalizations or sound like I’m downgrading their culture.
Again, I hope more and more of my Taiwanese friends can be like the original poster, realize there’s a problem, and feel like doing something about it, even if its just discussing it.[/quote]
My sentiments exactly. For me it is not so much about how I am treated, which is pretty damn good as a white male, but how other races and genders in Taiwan are treated. When broaching this subject with my Taiwanese friends and co-workers, I try not to preach, but I refuse to avoid discussing Taiwanese racism simply because it makes them uncomfortable or lose face.
[quote=“panda”]I’ve seen this over and over again in many years of doing export
business here. We had many suppliers and most of them had an
obvious disliking for a foreigner (me) coming here and opening up shope
even though I would buy many components from said companies.
I’ll never forget the attitudes from many long term business partners
when their racism showed its true colors. When we had booths at
the Taipei or overseas electronics trade shows, my suppliers would come
into my booth and give me snide remarks about how I am stealing
Taiwanese peoples money. The Chinese they use goes like this.
“Ni lai Taiwan, dzwan taiwanren de chen” as if they own Taiwans
export economy and foreigners are not allowed to compete. The
Taiwanese guys even did this in Germany at the CEBIT show and it went on year after year. I got this attitude from both competitors and business
partners and especially after I would shut off a vendor who I had given many years of profitable business to.
I’m talking about very wealthy company bosses who were profiting from my orders to them.
[/quote]
I treat anti-foreigner comments as simple resentment, when I hear them. I usually goof on the person making the comments, let him know what an idiot he is. I’ve never been physically attacked, though I’ve been cursed out a few times. If the comments are bothering me or my party, I’ll go and shut them up. It is easy to beat an idiot in a verbal joust, even using Mandarin, and I’m always willing to get dirty if it goes that far.
Well it is true that we get more money than local teachers do for the fact that we wouldn’t come here for $200 an hour. We do give up alot coming here (food, friends, tv, concerts family) and we deserve to be compensated for it.
Back in the old days when I was teaching, the best paid English teachers were the local ones who helped the students prep for the joint college entrance exam and other such tests. Working in the big factory cram schools around Taipei station, they taught classes of 150 students, and earned three times as much per hour as any foreign English teacher. I never heard of any foreigners getting such a job, because it required native-speaker fluency in Chinese to explain the English grammar to the students. In fact, the teachers’ English wasn’t necessarily all that good, but they knew their English grammar well enough, and knew what the students needed to know in order to get high marks in the exams. At the time, I used to think how lucky I’d be if only I could get my Chinese up to a suitable level to be able to snag a job like that.[/quote]
Some of the teachers who help highschool students score well in tests are considered as “TEACHING STARS”, just like movie stars. Some of them even got flowers sometimes.
Students who wanted to register for popular classes had to stay up all night and waited for the office to open in the next morning. Well, I did that once when I was in highschool. Not for English course, though. For Math course.
Oh lord. I was simply going to say that racism exists in every country and culture, outspoken or not. Unfortunately it’s current human nature to be this way. When it will change is a good question.
But then you get comments like above and ya doubt if it ever will. “…deserve to be compensated…”??? Oh lord. Maybe it’s coming across the wrong way, but as it is… damn if that wouldn’t fuel the fire.
I was thinking the same thing Grayson. Its all about market demand; that’s it. To think you deserve something just because you came from a different place…?
Different place, different skill level, different culture and ability to teach about it. I don’t see his statement as being particularly evil or unenlightened, just realistic. If the pay weren’t so high, would you be in Taiwan? or Hunan Province??
Besides, it’s not as if 95% of the English schools in Taiwan are in da biz for the benefit of the kiddies. They’re all money-grubbing bastards So it’s silly for them to turn around and complain about foreign English teachers just wanting money. I mean, there’s a reason why we’re teaching English here in Taiwan and not Mexico. The parents demand a “waiji laoshi”, and there’s a limited supply. Hence, the higher p/h pay rates.
Plus, I’m not just there to teach the kids. At every school I’ve ever worked at, I’ve always had to deal with, on an almost daily basis, co-workers asking for help - because my native speaker fluency is greater than their second-hand English. I don’t mind doing these little favors like explaining to them fine points of grammar and context. In fact I always thought it would make more sense for me to teach the Taiwanese teachers than me teaching the kids.
Different place, different skill level, different culture and ability to teach about it. I don’t see his statement as being particularly evil or unenlightened, just realistic. If the pay weren’t so high, would you be in Taiwan? or Hunan Province??[/quote]
Market place is understandable. Supply and demand ok. But grasshopper’s comment… “he gave a lot coming here so he deserves to be compensated for it” (paraphrased)… implies that him coming to Taiwan was anything special. It wasn’t. For the most part, I know this will inflame a lot, most of the english teachers here don’t have any special skill when it comes to teaching english. They just happen to be born in a country where english is the primary language. Those teachers barely have any training at all. If those same, and you know who I mean, were to even dare put “English Teacher in Taiwan” on their resume it would be laughable. It’s also how most Taiwanese see the foreigner english teachers. They’d like better but either it’s not available or can’t afford for the better schools.
Anyway I am starting to digress. But I think you got the gist of my point about grasshopper’s comment.
[quote=“grayson”]
For the most part, I know this will inflame a lot, most of the English teachers here don’t have any special skill when it comes to teaching English. They just happen to be born in a country where English is the primary language. Those teachers barely have any training at all. If those same, and you know who I mean, were to even dare put “English Teacher in Taiwan” on their resume it would be laughable. quote]
Here lies the reason for not teaching so much now.
I wonder if running a school is laughable, I hope not, I do want to go home one day.
I guess what will make things worse is that I’ve been here 5 years.
I do think there’s a lot more racism here than when I arrived six years ago. Oh well, what can you do?
I also think that, unfortunately, there are quite a few foreigners that walk around thinking they’re hot shit, and are demanding and rude to locals-thinking they should receive special treatment because they’re foreigners. Not all foreigners are like this, but enough are to give the lot of us a bad name.
Sure some people are racist, but I also think that a lot of Taiwanese have bad impressions of foreigners because of the way some foreigners act. So if I catch someone giving me the evil eye, or just plain bad attitude, I rebound with a warm “Ni hau!” and a big, big smile. More often than not, they return my greeting. Who knows if that’ll change their mind about foreigners, but at least it doesn’t ruin my day with bad vibes from stereotypes.
Some of them even got flowers sometimes.
So it’s silly for them to turn around and complain about foreign English teachers just wanting money. I mean, there’s a reason why we’re teaching English here in Taiwan and not Mexico. The parents demand a “waiji laoshi”, and there’s a limited supply. Hence, the higher p/h pay rates.